Nice work Chris!
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Hey, Just thought I drop a note to say how cool your sliding sidebar is! Nice work! > Andrew.
I agree, it's pretty cool. :) It's curious that just yesterday I saw this kind of thing for the first time on another website. Microsoft's Zone.com (yes I'm still playing games) had a regular-looking-rectangular banner ad that when you put the cursor over it expanded down to cover almost the whole screen space below it. It was pretty impacting... and it works just like CodeProject's: when the mouse is removed, it goes back to it's regular size. I found it pretty innovative, albeit a bit annoying for something like a banner ad. This one is nice though. Nice work! Alvaro
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Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but this thing, while maybe technically interesting, is _really_ annoying. It's precisely the kind of valueless UI gimmick that adds nothing to the usability of the product, decreases reliability (since it brings in more code), and distracts the user from the task at hand. Thumbs down.
Thanks for the comments Jim. I added it because I was sick and tired of trying to navigate from an article to the main sections via the homepage or section Table of Contents. I designed it so that it was slim and out of the way, and I was actually wondering if people would even notice it (as I said, it's kind of a quiet test). Is it really getting in the way that much? I could add a timer that waits for a 1-2 second hover before it moves over. Just let me know how many bugs you want with that extra piece of code :D Other options are that I could just trash it, or move to a fixed menu, or have a setting in your Settings page that allows you to disable it. Lemme know. cheers, Chris Maunder
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Thanks for the comments Jim. I added it because I was sick and tired of trying to navigate from an article to the main sections via the homepage or section Table of Contents. I designed it so that it was slim and out of the way, and I was actually wondering if people would even notice it (as I said, it's kind of a quiet test). Is it really getting in the way that much? I could add a timer that waits for a 1-2 second hover before it moves over. Just let me know how many bugs you want with that extra piece of code :D Other options are that I could just trash it, or move to a fixed menu, or have a setting in your Settings page that allows you to disable it. Lemme know. cheers, Chris Maunder
Glad you apprecieate the comments. UI designers tend to agree that soething occuring just because you move your mouse - without actually doing something overt to initate an action, such as clicking - is a Bad Thing. Tool tips are an exception to this, because they are small and unobtrusive, though. Were this my app, I'd drop it. Since some people seem to like it, you should probably just allow it to be turned off in the settings. One thing I'm curious about, though: I have animation turned off on my machine, so that menus pop up immediately, etc. When I tried to use AnimateWindow(), however, nothing heppened - indicating that this function respects that setting. However, I've noticed that a few apps - IM, and this sidebar of yours - animate regardless of that setting. How does that work?
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Glad you apprecieate the comments. UI designers tend to agree that soething occuring just because you move your mouse - without actually doing something overt to initate an action, such as clicking - is a Bad Thing. Tool tips are an exception to this, because they are small and unobtrusive, though. Were this my app, I'd drop it. Since some people seem to like it, you should probably just allow it to be turned off in the settings. One thing I'm curious about, though: I have animation turned off on my machine, so that menus pop up immediately, etc. When I tried to use AnimateWindow(), however, nothing heppened - indicating that this function respects that setting. However, I've noticed that a few apps - IM, and this sidebar of yours - animate regardless of that setting. How does that work?
However, I've noticed that a few apps - IM, and this sidebar of yours - animate regardless of that setting. How does that work? I haven't looked at the sidebar code, but I imagine it's the IE equivalent of a Netscape LAYER that's originally off-screen, and gets moved 1 pixel at a time to produce the sliding effect. With MSN IM, those notification windows look totally owner-drawn (but they don't stay up long enough for me to spy on them with Spy++! ;) ), so the app can draw it however it likes. It could check the system setting and not animate its windows, it just doesn't. --Mike-- http://home.inreach.com/mdunn/ #include "buffy_sig"
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That ol' thing? :-O Glad you like it! cheers, Chris Maunder
Oi, I think it's very cool! But it would be cooler :-) if I could enable/disable it from my prefs. Thx, Chris! /ravi "There is always one more bug..." http://www.ravib.com ravib@ravib.com
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You can see Dynamic Drive and 24Fun with many examples of browser specific and cross-browser DHTML goodies. BTW: CP's sliding navigation bar does not work in Netscape. Anyway, nice work, Chris! Farhan Noor Qureshi
Another very good site, if you need cross-browser DHTML stuff, is SiteExperts. SlavoF "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." --Confucius
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Glad you apprecieate the comments. UI designers tend to agree that soething occuring just because you move your mouse - without actually doing something overt to initate an action, such as clicking - is a Bad Thing. Tool tips are an exception to this, because they are small and unobtrusive, though. Were this my app, I'd drop it. Since some people seem to like it, you should probably just allow it to be turned off in the settings. One thing I'm curious about, though: I have animation turned off on my machine, so that menus pop up immediately, etc. When I tried to use AnimateWindow(), however, nothing heppened - indicating that this function respects that setting. However, I've noticed that a few apps - IM, and this sidebar of yours - animate regardless of that setting. How does that work?
Hey Jim, The sidebar is just a floating table that's moved using javascript. I'll work on the toolbar when I need some light relief and see what I can come up with :) cheers, Chris Maunder
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Hey, Just thought I drop a note to say how cool your sliding sidebar is! Nice work! > Andrew.
I like it also, but there's one problem. When you need to scroll down in the menu, you have to leave the menu, and use the scrollbar of the browser. The problem is that you can't see how far you need to scroll, because the menu is disappeared. I don't know how you can solve that.
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Hey, Just thought I drop a note to say how cool your sliding sidebar is! Nice work! > Andrew.
I've got my fonts at 150% and the scroll bar when minimized is covering the the left side of the article so I can't read the first few characters of each line. Also I find that it takes too long for the scrollbar to slide away on a 850Mhz P3. The rate used to expand is nice, why not retract at the same rate? I tried locking it and it jumped back to retracted in the locked position. Otherwise I like the idea. On the subject of larger font sizes this edit field I'm typing in is 125% as wide as the screen which makes it kind of hard to use.
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You can see Dynamic Drive and 24Fun with many examples of browser specific and cross-browser DHTML goodies. BTW: CP's sliding navigation bar does not work in Netscape. Anyway, nice work, Chris! Farhan Noor Qureshi
What is "Netscape?" ;) "das leid schlaft in der maschine" -Einstürzende Neubauten
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Hey, Just thought I drop a note to say how cool your sliding sidebar is! Nice work! > Andrew.
If you run with Large Fonts, it causes the bar to cover over part of the text of the page. In addition to this, try scrolling down so that the bottom of the sidebar is eventually exposed. When you mouse over from the side, the bar exposes itself :) and will close up when you mouse away, again over the side. But if you mouse away by moving the mouse down through the bottom of the side bar, it does not closeup at all. In fact it stays completely open, covering the document as you scroll up back to the top. I definitely like the idea of having this as a preference setting. But it is very cool and usefull for the site. Chris
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I picked CodeGuru first, and what a disaster that was. Their whole login system was, and is, totally screwed. But you're right - I got there in the end. Plus I chose C++ instead of VB, Hungry Jacks over McDonalds, guitar over piano accordion, my wife over those other chicks that were around at the time....... Christian #include "std_disclaimer.h" People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either one being made. The things that come to those who wait are usually the things left by those who got there first.
HungryJacks!!! At George Street! Double whopper deal, mmmmmmm! :) Those days in Sydney! Cant forget that city! I was in Sydney from Aug '00 - Oct '00 (yup, during Olympics!), worked for CFSAustralia on premises of Macquarie Bank at Martin Place! :) Ammar Either I will find a way, or I will make one.
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I like it also, but there's one problem. When you need to scroll down in the menu, you have to leave the menu, and use the scrollbar of the browser. The problem is that you can't see how far you need to scroll, because the menu is disappeared. I don't know how you can solve that.
Buy a mouse with the scroll wheel... Works fine for me! :) Nice work Chris. -- The Obliterator
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Thanks for the comments Jim. I added it because I was sick and tired of trying to navigate from an article to the main sections via the homepage or section Table of Contents. I designed it so that it was slim and out of the way, and I was actually wondering if people would even notice it (as I said, it's kind of a quiet test). Is it really getting in the way that much? I could add a timer that waits for a 1-2 second hover before it moves over. Just let me know how many bugs you want with that extra piece of code :D Other options are that I could just trash it, or move to a fixed menu, or have a setting in your Settings page that allows you to disable it. Lemme know. cheers, Chris Maunder
Is sure do wish I knew what you guys were talking about.... If you mean the seeing the sidebar from the main page while viewing the forums (scrolling out) that isn't working here. I don't see the sidebar no matter where I move the mouse.
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Thanks for the comments Jim. I added it because I was sick and tired of trying to navigate from an article to the main sections via the homepage or section Table of Contents. I designed it so that it was slim and out of the way, and I was actually wondering if people would even notice it (as I said, it's kind of a quiet test). Is it really getting in the way that much? I could add a timer that waits for a 1-2 second hover before it moves over. Just let me know how many bugs you want with that extra piece of code :D Other options are that I could just trash it, or move to a fixed menu, or have a setting in your Settings page that allows you to disable it. Lemme know. cheers, Chris Maunder
Hey Chris. Frankly, I like the slide in bar, but another option that you may give some thought to (if enough people complain about the menubar that you want to remove it) would be using a top-bar menu system (http://webfx.eae.net/dhtml/dhtmlmenu/menu.html). This particular menu is dockable, and looks and acts just like a Windows menu. It only works for IE4 and up, so you'd have to check browser versions, but it looks very cool. I recently used this menu on a project that I did, and my client loved it. Just a thought. Jamie Nordmeyer Portland, Oregon, USA
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What is "Netscape?" ;) "das leid schlaft in der maschine" -Einstürzende Neubauten
The people who thought they knew what web browsers are.!!! And read this, Netscape: We're not a browser company :) ;) ;P :-D :cool:
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I've got my fonts at 150% and the scroll bar when minimized is covering the the left side of the article so I can't read the first few characters of each line. Also I find that it takes too long for the scrollbar to slide away on a 850Mhz P3. The rate used to expand is nice, why not retract at the same rate? I tried locking it and it jumped back to retracted in the locked position. Otherwise I like the idea. On the subject of larger font sizes this edit field I'm typing in is 125% as wide as the screen which makes it kind of hard to use.
I think it 'd be cool if the sidebar would scroll vertically, to follow the current view of a page (should be easy to do). Also, i'd like it not to "animate", but popup immediately. What about implementing all (or some) of the users' suggestions and let'em change the appearance of the sidebar (My Settings)? It seems most users liked the sidebar, and I think it's here to stay. Maybe have a poll about it? :-D
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Hey, Just thought I drop a note to say how cool your sliding sidebar is! Nice work! > Andrew.
As cute and interesting as it is, having something slide into view simply because you move the cursor onto some "magic" location is poor UI design. There should simply be a button of some type to toggle the side bar on and off. If you want it, you got it, if you don't, its gone.
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As cute and interesting as it is, having something slide into view simply because you move the cursor onto some "magic" location is poor UI design. There should simply be a button of some type to toggle the side bar on and off. If you want it, you got it, if you don't, its gone.
What you're describing is like the "View Workspace" button in DevStudio, which is fine except for one thing: turning it on causes everything else to shift (to the right usually). So it's meant to be used more to set things up permanently. I think Chris's intent was to have a quick way to navigate to other places through a temporary popup. What you describe would have taken an extra button push and possibly a refresh of the whole page (to fit on the smaller space). You have to agree that the way it is now makes it very quick and the "magic" place also happens to be where the mouse would need to eventually go anyway. Still, I see how having a toggle button would also be nice for people who want the menu displayed all the time. Regards, Alvaro
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Is sure do wish I knew what you guys were talking about.... If you mean the seeing the sidebar from the main page while viewing the forums (scrolling out) that isn't working here. I don't see the sidebar no matter where I move the mouse.
It's an IE5+ only gimmick. :( cheers, Chris Maunder
